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There are few things in one’s career as exciting and full of promise as the first day on the first design job. Yet, if you don’t prepare for this wonderful opportunity, you may miss the chance to make the best possible first impression and set yourself up for success. One of my favourite bosses loved quoting Benjamin Franklin: “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”!

So how can you be so well prepared for your first design job?

1. Research Thoroughly on The Company You are Joining

How well do you know the agency or company that you will be joining? Have you devoured every piece of information in the public domain that you can find on the company? What is the company’s history and track record? What are they really proud of? What’s the vision for their industry?

Have you tried reaching out to people who have worked there or are still working there to understand the culture? Check on glassdoor.com. Do you know what it will take to succeed at this company? All of this information will help you connect emotionally with your new colleagues and also fit in to the culture.

2. Clarity of Your Role

Were you so excited to accept the offer that you didn’t really pay much attention to the role? Will you be just another cog in the wheel or are they going to be assigning you lots of responsibilities? Who will you be reporting to? Is this person just a few years senior to you or is there a big gap in experience? What does the company expect you to do? How will your effectiveness and performance be measured?

How will you be rewarded? Having clarity on your role and what it will take to succeed at the company will ensure that your efforts and hard work are channeled in the right places. Even if you don’t have these questions answered before you join, try to get these answers on the first day or first week.

3. Refresh Your Skills

If you’ve done the homework on the company and role clarity, you will know exactly what hard and soft skills you may need to brush up on. Spend time before your first design job mastering the basic software tools you will be using. Practice both your written and oral communication skills.

Flex your creative muscle and warm it up by solving some online creative thinking exercises. Take a class on skillsshare.com or LinkedIn Learning. Watch some motivational speeches by Steve Jobs, Robin Sharma or Tony Robbins. Read up as much as you can on being a team player. It’s no long just about you. Your success will largely depend on how well you get along with others.

4. Reset your Mindset

The biggest gift you can give yourself before your first day on the job is to cultivate a growth mindset and a passionate can-do attitude. Attitude trumps everything else in the workplace – the right one can take you farther than you ever imagined possible.

Make sure you get eight hours of sleep every night, eat healthy, exercise regularly, meditate every day to clean your mind and wake up in the morning with a burning desire to get on with your day’s work. Some days will be fabulous, and others will make you way to cry and perhaps even quit.

It’s important to solider on despite the difficulties. I love these words by Carol Dweck: “Love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort and keep on learning”

Published in Issue 47

Portfolios ready and design graduate all set to grab their first dream job in the studio and agency they admire. And on the other side, the industry is always on the look for the fresh talent to acquire. The issue is full of advice on, what to expect from your first job, how to be prepared to get the best opportunities and much more. So if you are a recent graduate or looking to hire fresh talent, this is a must-have for you. So go ahead and order your copy now!

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It’s not hard to see why working professionals would despise automation and new-age technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence. After all, these marvels of digital era are after their jobs, or at least that’s how it appears anyway.

It doesn’t help that new reports are released every now and then that only serve to instill fear in the people, such as the new PWC report that says that 38% of US jobs will be automated by 2030. In all fairness, these projections can be quite scary. However, do we really need to worry about our jobs? Let’s find out.

Design Industry Today and Tomorrow

There is no denying that automation has its advantages which is why there are all kinds of AI-based applications in the design industry already. For instance, we have AI logo makers like Tailor Brands that allow small business owners around the world to create high-quality logos in a matter of minutes. The users don’t even need to have any kind of graphic design experience, and the service itself is quite cheap. However, human logo designers needn’t be afraid of these technologies.

Most industry experts believe that AI won’t kill jobs but rather create more jobs. It will also make jobs easier by taking care of the dull and repetitive tasks like automated email responses, record-keeping, accounts management, etc. According to a report shared by UK-based non-profit Nesta, creative jobs like computer programmers, designers, musicians, etc. are least likely to be affected by automation.

In the words of Hasan Bakhshi who is the director of creative economy at Nesta, “tasks that involve a high degree of human manipulation and perception will be more difficult to automate”. Since logo designing is also a highly creative job, professionals in this space don’t need to be intimidated by AI logo designers.

The following are some of the biggest reasons why:

1. AI lacks Emotional Intelligence

It’s hard to argue against the significance of emotions in graphic design. Any marketer and graphic designer worth their salt will agree that emotions can take product design to new level. Since this is a domain where AI simply can’t match humans, at least for a long time, human logo designs will always have the upper hand.

2. Medium and large enterprises don’t have budget limitations

The main reason why AI logo designers are so popular today is that they can be easily afforded by budding entrepreneurs who have a limited budget but have to cover all kinds of other expenses. These small business owners can’t spend hundreds of dollars on just the logo design when they need money to build a comprehensive e-commerce platform, purchase inventory, set aside some funds for marketing, and then some.

Large organizations don’t operate on shoestring budgets. They can afford to spend some decent money on the logo design which is why they won’t be the customers of AI logo makers.

3. Some brands will always seek a “Human Touch”

There is something quite satisfying and natural about a human touch that it’s nearly impossible to create a world where it doesn’t exist at all. How else would you explain why so many people still shop from their favorite local stores even though there is an online store for every category where products are available in unbelievable variety and discounts that are hard to match?

It doesn’t matter how advanced we can make our programs like logo designers, there will always some brands that will want to explain their requirements to a human graphics designer, i.e. someone they can have discussions with and share ideas on an emotional level.

Conclusion

AI and machine learning are powerful technologies that will make our lives easier, there is no question about it. However, as long as will listen to songs, watch movies, and need spellbinding illustrations and logos, there will always be humans setting new trends and captivating our attention with supreme imagination and creativity.